National Stadium Mockery Politics

Once more we are being told that the stadium would be built. This is apparently intended more for its political currency than any real commitment to the youths of this nation.
We are now in 2009 and suddenly the talk of an international airport seems to have taken on much more political value for the government of the day than any other single undertaking. This has meant that we cannot expect work to be done on the stadium until this project is completed.
At issue is the extent to which the government is really committed to sport in St Vincent and
the Grenadines. The lack of progress on the realisation of the stadium is reflective of the low level of priority the government places on sport more generally.
The youths of the nation have watched the work provided for the Cricket World Cup and must understand that it was not because of interest in sport. Had there been such an interest we would have had the government putting in place the requisite mechanism to facilitate ongoing utilisation of the facilities to make their existence worthwhile. For 2009 for example there are three teams coming into the region to engage the West Indies Cricket team yet not one single match has been allocated to St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The author takes no delight in saying, “I told you so”, but remains very concerned about the reality that thus far the usage of the facilities at Arnos Vale does not justify the expenditures undertaken in its upgrade. There has been no initiative to attract greater usage of the kind that would yield financial benefits such that the NSC would not have rot rely so heavily on government funding to meet the expenses associated with the upkeep of the facilities.
We need to hear about the mechanisms being put in place to ensure that if and when we construct a national stadium that we would have a marketing strategy as well as suitably qualified personnel associated with its management in all aspects inclusive of maintenance.
It is difficult to conceptualise a government that so frequently boasts of its commitment to the nation’s youths would be so lax in its approach to the sport development process. At best what has been provided for sport is certainly not the result of any vision or systematic planning on the part of the current administration.
There seems little doubt that at some time in the future a national stadium would be provided in this country but it is proving increasingly difficult for anyone to predict when this would happen. Until such time the youths of this country would have to make do with the political promises.